"Supergirl" TV series cast was not really well received by fans at the start, especially the one for James Olsen.
Mehcad Brooks, an African-American, was enlisted to play Superman's bestfriend James Olsen who in the comics is a ginger.
Olsen is also some kind of geek while Brooks looks like a professional American football player. This casting was met with rage and protest but CBS just decided to push it through.
Issues regarding the "Supergirl" TV series cast is one of the many things addressed by producers, writers and actors in last Monday's Television Critics Association summer press tour.
There, they said casting someone different from the comics should not be a problem.
Executive Greg Berlanti said changes in "Supergirl" casting is some kind of privilege they got. He also insisted that instead of sticking to the material, they just looked for the best available talent that could fill the role of James Olsen.
"One of the blessings of what we get to do is to introduce it to a new generation and that means changing key elements of the character but still keeping true to the core about the DNA of the character," Berlanti said during the Supergirl panel
Adding, "For James Olsen, we were looking for someone that could be best friends with Superman, that had the heart and soul of a well-liked boy who had grown up. Mehcad came in and, in addition to his acting talents, best demonstrated that. Then it's really easy to go to the network or the studio and say, 'We found him.'"
Mehcad Brooks has a more aggressive stance about people's problem on him being part of "Supergirl" TV series cast. He said fans should just accept it because the "world is too small" for such negativity.
"If you have a problem with someone's race or sex or sexual preference or anything else that differentiates them from you, that's your problem," he said. "That mentality is either going to get fixed in your lifetime or you'll have to die with that. The world is too small and life is too short to hold on to negativity that way. I hope people judge me on the content of my character - excuse the pun."
"Supergirl" TV series cast is lead by Melissa Benoist who will play the title role, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, and Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers.
